NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) —The end of slavery was the end of one hardship for African Americans in this country. Through reconstruction, the Civil Rights Movement, all the way to the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement, the story of freedom is still being written. Throughout hardship, we weep at funerals and include music in our homegoing services.
In the summer of 1955, Emmett Till was murdered during a Mississippi August. His funeral on September 6th, would show the world the world the monstrosity of America’s race problem.
Charles Lloyd Jr. is a composer, pianist and music educator at Southern University and A&M College composed an opera about one of the saddest occurrences in American history, the killing of Emmett Till in 1955.
“Emmett’s life and legacy are pivotal in terms of the Civil Rights movement. There are a lot of composers now, who are African American and interested in writing operas. Our subject matter might be a little different from what European whites, use for their opera,” says Charles Lloyd Jr.
Charles Lloyd is a celebrated composer who has written Emmett Till: An Opera in Three Acts. Recently, has decided to rehearse former music students who attended Southern University and A&M College to bring his music composition to life.
“In 2008, I was commissioned, I was commissioned by the Trinity Opera Company in New Jersey to write an opera based on Emmett Till,” explains Lloyd.
The opera is divided into three acts. The first act takes place in Chicago, where Emmett pleads with his family to go down south with his cousins. The second act picks up in Mississippi in the Bryant Grocery Store, where Emmett supposedly whistled. After that musical act, Lloyd writes a musical dream sequence, where heroes of the Civil Rights movement over the years visit the stage and sing. The third act is the open casket funeral of Emmett Till and the ascending of this soul.
Nealie Greely is a music educator and one of Lloyd’s former students. She is playing the role of Fannie Lou Hamer in the opera and believes there is a lot of relevance in the opera today, saying, “the opera speaks to the climate that we are in currently. It speaks to all of us personally. We have seen a lot of young African Americans killed over prejudice over the years. This opera gives you a deeper understanding and more emotional connection to the story.”
The theme of the opera is heavy and the chord structures are full, similar to the hearts and tears of Emmett’s funeral in 1955, when Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till decided to show the world the battered body of her son, to expose hatred.
Charles Lloyd’s musicians, perform the music with intention.
“If you don’t know the story of Emmett Till and feel like it is something you can sweep under the rug of history, I want to understand that a young man’s life was taken for a lie. It changed the entire nation,” explains Greely.
Explaining the responsibility and legacy in writing his opera, Charles Lloyd says, “this is biggest and most important work that I have ever written and I am very proud of it.”
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